Agnes Szavay(Hungary) Biography

Agnes Szavay is very disappointed she had to withdraw from the 2011 Australian Open but she has been struggling to regain her fitness following a thigh injury last Autumn.

Such is the life of a professional tennis player, as Szavay had been playing so well prior to the injury with back-to-back wins at the GDF Suez Grand Prix and the ECM Prague Open.

She incurred the strain to her left thigh during a match in Tokyo in September and had to retire but she did go on to play in Beijing the following week and lost in a tough three-setter to Elena Vesnina. That proved to be the end of a roller-coaster season for the young Hungarian player.

In December 2010 she decided not to go to Australia saying she had not been able to start training yet and she wanted to start the new season with a good preparation behind her.

She has said she will be playing for Hungary in the Federation Cup in February when they have an away match versus Israel.

She was born in Kiskunhalas, Hungary on December 29th 1988 and was brought up in Soltvadkert. She was introduced to tennis when she was 6-years-old by her parents Tereza and Zsolt who were her first coaches and managers.

She has a younger sister Blanka Szavay who is five years younger and plays on the junior circuit. She also has a brother Levente.

She won her first career WTA tournament in Palermo, Italy in 2007 and her world ranking rose to 37. She also won the mixed doubles title with at the Tier III Budapest Grand Prix with Vladimira Uhlirova.

That year she also reach the quarter final in her first US Open beating 32nd seed Nadia Petrova before losing to Svetlana Kuznetsova, and she also reached the semi finals of the mixed doubles with Uhlirova.

For her efforts she was awarded the 2007 Newcomer of the Year by the WTA.

She began 2008 by winning the women's doubles with Dinara Safina at the Mondial Australian Women's Hardcourt Tournament on Australia's Gold Coast. They beat the first and second seeded teams in the semi-final and the final.

At the 2009 Madrid Masters she beat Flavia Pennetta in the 1st round, Aravane Rezai in the 2nd round and World number 9 Victoria Azarenka in the 3rd round before losing to Amelie Mauresmo in the quarter final in three sets.

At the French Open that year she caused an upset when she beat Venus Williams 6-0/6-4 in the 3rd round but then lost to Dominika Cibulkova.

She beat her first Top 10 player since Venus Williams at the 2010 Brisbane International when she came through from qualifying and beat Jelena Jankovic in the first round of the main draw, only to lose to Aravane Rezai in the next round.

She is sponsored by Wilson for her K Tour rackets and Fila for her clothes and shoes and the player she most admires is Roger Federer as she says he is a real sportsman.

The Hungarian Sports Federation awarded her the Best Athlete Trophy in 2007 and she was also named that year as Ambassador for Habitat for Humanity in Hungary.